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Dear John xxxxxx,
Last Friday, ARC partnered with Healing Dialogue and Action (HDA) to host a Los Angeles District Attorney candidate town hall inside California State Prison - Los Angeles County (CSP-LAC). CSP-LAC is the only state prison in California's largest county, housing 3,000 incarcerated people. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office is the largest local prosecutorial agency in the United States and the Los Angeles County jail system is the largest in the United States by incarcerated population. The event was the first ever DA candidate town hall in an American state prison.
We co-hosted this event because we believe that incarcerated people are valued members of our communities. We believe their voices should be heard by decision makers, both present and future. We also believe that survivors of crime should be centered because we know the immeasurable pain caused when lives are taken and communities are hurt.
As I write this letter to you, I still can't believe what I experienced this past Friday. I served 24 years in prison. I've been home eight years. Over these last 32 years, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would return to a maximum security prison to watch candidates for District Attorney in Los Angeles County exchange ideas with and take seriously questions from incarcerated individuals, as these individuals sat among other members of the wider community.
Most of the questions came from currently incarcerated men who have been serving long sentences since their youth. Other questions came from family members who have lost loved ones to violent crime. We shared a space where everyone was heard and validated. This was an example of what civic engagement looks like when we seek restorative justice as opposed to punitive justice. I witnessed civic engagement by citizens that are the most marginalized in our country.
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